1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to intra prediction used in digital video compression.
2. Related Art
Some methods of video compression use spatial prediction to compress raw video streams. Spatial prediction includes predicting pixels within a macroblock from pixels in previously encoded adjacent macroblocks. This approach is known as intra spatial prediction, and is used in H.264 video compression.
Part of the intra prediction process involves determining which of nine possible prediction modes for each 4×4 luma block within a 16×16 macroblock. As such, in 4×4 intra mode, current intra prediction techniques involve 144 such determinations for each macroblock. Similar determinations must be made as well for each 16×16 luma block in 16×16 intra mode to determine the best of four possible prediction modes, and for 8×8 chroma block in 8×8 intra mode to determine the best of four possible prediction modes. Selecting the optimal mode is therefore a computationally expensive task.